Home-schooled students need extra planning

When some of Caitlyn Chione's fellow college students learned
she had been schooled at home, they asked her what it was like and
whether she had friends and stuff.

The answer was yes, but not tons of them because she is
naturally shy, she said.

Caitlyn, 18, attends MiraCosta College and is also taking a
course at Grossmont College. Her first semester has been sort of a
revelation to her. Until now, her education was conducted at home
—— and her mother was her teacher.

What was that like?

"She was two in one all day," said the Fallbrook resident. "I
was actually pretty autonomous. She set up a schedule, and I would
just do the work. She never had to tell me what to do. She would
always help me if I needed help, and she would correct my work at
the end of the day."

Lots of students

Exact statistics on how many young people are homeschooled are
not available; however, a spring 1999 report by the National
Household Education Surveys Program estimated the national numbers
at 850,000 students. "Parents gave a wide variety of reasons for
homeschooling their children," the report said. Those included
being able to give children a better education at home; religious
reasons; and a poor learning environment at school.

The process of choosing and applying to a school is about the
same for all students on the road to college, but the homeschooled
can face the additional challenge of translating their efforts into
acceptable terms for admissions officers. In their case,
preparation and planning are all.

Both Caitlyn's parents attended public school, her father, Jeff,
in Illinois and her mother, Deanna, in Connecticut. They chose to
home-educate their five children, beginning with Caitlyn, because
"we have more control of the subject matter and hands-on,
one-to-one ability to teach the children," Jeff Chione said.

Deanna heartily agreed. "There's a lot of stuff being taught
that we don't agree with," she said. "There's a limit to what we
want them to be exposed to. We want them to grow up with our
values. We want to have as much influence as possible with them
before we turn them out to the wolves."

Caitlyn completed kindergarten and first grade in private
school, and was home-schooled for grades 2 through 12.

"She's our guinea pig," Deanna said. "She's our first, and I
really felt a burden to give her the tools she would need and give
her a good education."

Asked whether she felt she received a good education, Caitlyn
gave an enthusiastic "yes." She's preparing for a major in Russian
studies in whatever four-year school she chooses. She has already
begun teaching herself Russian, and she wants a career in
government service.

But it was no walk in the park for her mom, who is also
homeschooling three other children, Jaclyn, 16, Zachary, 14, and
Ethan, 10. The youngest is Lydia, 1. "Yes, I'm going to be
homeschooling until I'm about 60," Deanne said, laughing.

All the children learn differently, she said, and another
advantage to home-schooling is the ability to tailor the teaching
to their needs.

"It was a challenge for me," Deanna said. "I had to do all the
grading and order the curriculum. But we've had a lot of fun. You
have your kids with you."

Similar process

When it comes to college applications, the process for
homeschooling is much the same as for public school students,
Deanna said. She stays with a very academic curriculum, is very
much a stickler for notetaking and scheduling, and involves their
children in extra-curricular activity.

The family is part of an Independent Study Program that assisted
them in compiling grade point averages and a transcript.

The family chose a community college for Caitlyn mostly for
economic reasons, but also to ease the transition between college
and high school, said Jeff Chione said.

Caitlyn, who had scored well on her SAT tests, was on the dean's
list last semester. She said she was a little overwhelmed at first,
like any other freshman. Now enrolled in her first English class,
she said she has never done so much writing before. "But it's not
like it's too much," she said. "It's not like I can't handle
it."

Homeschooling probably made it easier to approach academic
challenges, she said.

"I just have discipline," she said. "If I make a commitment to
something, I do it."

Her advice to fellow homeschoolers and others contemplating
higher education choices is to forge ahead.

"Even if you go for the first three weeks and you don't like it,
at least you tried."

Nontraditional choices

"Bridging the gap between homeschool and college entrance may
prove difficult to a student with no knowledge of admission
standards and procedures," according to a special homeschool issue
of the Journal of the National Association for College Admission
Counseling.

"To add to this stress, homeschool students still have to break
through barriers that some colleges and universities fence around
admissions."

In many ways, homeschooled students have much in common with
charter and independent-study school students, said Gina Campbell,
director of Pacific View Charter School in Oceanside.

"We're a little different than a traditional independent study,"
said Campbell. "We offer the same courses, the same rigor, as a
traditional school setting. We just offer it in a different
format."

Pacific View, a K-12 public school that opened in August
1999, provides an educational alternative for students from the San
Diego area. Enrollment is voluntary, and parents have an active
voice in the children's education and the school's governance,
according to the Web site.

Charter schools like Pacific View provide a viable option for
homeschooling parents. The school provides textbooks and materials,
and parents can elect to supplement with materials of their own
choosing.

"We have a set curriculum that is standards-based, and we answer
to the state," Campbell said. "We ask that they make our curriculum
the main curriculum, then supplement with the other."

Plan to prove yourself

Home-educated students have many strategies to employ when
planning and applying for college admission. Just as with other
students, it's important to start early to provide the college of
your choice with the information it might require.

"One of the things I tell all of my students is to contact the
universities that they're interested in and make sure they will
accept a transcript from a personalized learning school," Campbell
said.

Beginning in at least ninth grade, it is important to constantly
review transcripts to ensure students are on the right track to go
to college if that's their goal, Campbell said. Otherwise, "when
you're a junior or a senior, all of a sudden you realize, 'I needed
an upper-level science class or an upper-level math class, and I
don't have one.'"

One major challenge for home-educated students is defining their
courses of study for the universities they want to attend, Campbell
said. "When you're homeschooling on your own without an
institution's support, the university could question the standards
of the course and decide to give credits or not."

Learn as much as you can about the university that you want to
attend, Campbell added. "Have a special interview with the intake
person; send them information about the school you attended and the
courses you've taken."

Basic requirements will probably include transcripts and SAT
scores. While not a popular choice with many home educators, some
schools might require students to take a GED test. Some colleges
administer their own admission exams.

"Colleges often place requirements on homeschooled students
which they do not require of their public school applicants,"
experts at the Home School Legal Defense Association said in an
article called "Preparing for College." It continued, "Although
homeschoolers tend to be excellent and qualified students, their
high school transcripts are not usually accredited by an outside
agency." Some colleges impose extra requirements in order to
maintain their own accreditation, the article said.

What colleges want to see

Admission requirements may vary from school to school. MiraCosta
College, for instance, is an open-access institution, said Gilbert
Hermosillo, dean of Admission Assessment and Student Aid, so
students aren't required to have a high school diploma. Enrollment
is allowed if the student is 18 or older, or if younger than 18,
has a high school diploma.

Those who want to use homeschool classes to meet prerequisite or
advanced-placement classes would have to submit documentation,
including a description of the course and proof the student had
actually taken it. Students can challenge the prerequisites.

Although homeschoolers are not required to follow a particular
framework of instruction, experts advise families to be mindful of
what colleges are accustomed to seeing from traditional students.
Parents should compile written descriptions of course content, and
include information about educational extracurricular activities
such as field trips.

Use traditional course headings as a guide, such as Math,
English and Science, and list all activities pertinent to each
subject. Then create a portfolio including the records of the
student's academic work, writing samples, any internships, job
experience, and a list of books read.

Recordkeeping should be clear and concise and include course
content and scores from the SAT and other tests. Some colleges will
require the equivalent of a GPA. And many will ask why the family
chose the home-school option.

Some authorities, like Campbell, advise students to take a few
community college courses to help accustom them to college-level
classes and possibly accumulate transferable credits. Experts
suggest another option is the College-Level Examination Program, a
series of tests designed to assign college credit to a student's
accumulated knowledge.

Extra details required

The University of Southern California is among the colleges that
accept applications from home-schooled students. However, besides
all the standard application materials, these students are required
to submit results from three SAT II Subject Tests (one must be the
writing exam and another must be in math). They must also submit
detailed syllabi of courses, textbook names, and details of any
assistance they are receiving or curriculum they are following
through any public or private agency, according to the university's
Web site.

As for the cost of higher education, homeschooled students are
eligible for federal assistance. "Be prepared," the Home School
Legal Defense Association folks said. "Do your homework. Gather as
much information about the schools of your choice as possible. Be
ready to provide the information they request."

And they added, "Persistence usually pays off when dealing with
college staff. If you encounter obstacles anywhere in the process,
seek out creative alternatives. 'No' does not always mean there is
no way."